Social Networking Qualms

While I'm no fan of the consumer web sites that purport to help you get and stay connected, I have been spending a lot of time on LinkedIn. I've probably made mention of the forums there and other features in a post here and there. 

However, all social networking sites are primarily a function in expanding your network, sharing information with them and so forth. This has given rise to the term "Super Conductor" which is considered as anyone with over 500 to 1,000 connections. Opinions vary on the number, but I really have to question why it's an issue of numbers at all. Where is the metric of quality?

The Coffee Shop as the New Office?

Once upon a time, I used to begin my day with a can of Coke or a stop at McDonalds to get the even better fountain version. I didn't like coffee ass it tasted too thin, insubstantial for my tastes. Certainly, that was true versus the syrupy sweetness of coke. 

Eventually, my tastebuds matured a bit and that degree of sweetness became sickeningly sweet - especially so early in the morning. I moved onto coffee but then found the sweet spot in the latte. The blend of milk and espresso really gets it done for me. Unfortunately, they aren't cheap and you can really only get them at the local coffee shop. Perhaps I should say "shops" as the coffee wars continue to rage with Starbucks versus everyone else in a bid to seemingly achieve a coffee shop on every corner.

This growing ubiquity has led a trend of folks hanging out at the coffee shop as a social and work destination. Nowadays, the coffee shop is being hailed as a melting pot of creativity and caffeine by a variety of folks with recommendations to make it a normal working location. 

Is is Better to Be Hated or Popular?

Luckily, Facebook doesn't have to choose. It's both. This is on the heels of a report that their customer satisfaction ranking is below that of the IRS. They can take some small solace in the fact that they beat out MySpace by a point.

But, one has to wonder, what the future of social networks are if folks are that are so unsatisfied by their membership in a free club? Perhaps most Facebook users have arrived at the crossroad of Hype and Reality and find Reality to be the better road to take. I was not much convinced about the value of Facebook in my life and only grudgingly joined. 

My profile is as locked down as I can make it, and only a handful of friends have made it into my network. The UI, which was already chaotic to begin with, has only grown increasingly cluttered and overly busy - perhaps designed for a target demographic other than me... but nonetheless it lacks friendly customization features that can attract and hold members across all demographics. But most importantly, I find the causal dismissal of the importance of someone else's privacy to be somewhere between appalling and unnerving. Or maybe both.

It's time for Facebook to wake up, look in the mirror and decide if it wants to grow up. If so, it needs to take itself more seriously if it wants to continue to expand. It is only possible to do that if you hang onto the folks you have. Facebook is going to need to focus on servicing all of it's members all the way from 13 to 83.

Facebook, you don't know best - your customers do. So start asking them what they need and want and get them involved in your development process - before you don't have them anymore.

Instant Personalization = Instant Lack of Privacy

So when Facebook rolls out a change to their system, about 400 million people are affected. And most of them will notice. That is of course, unless the change is buried in the settings that you rarely go to.

I am of course referring to the new "Instant Personalization" feature that Facebook rolled out this week. This feature is supposed to extend the Facebook experience to the larger (though only participating at this time) web. That's actually a pretty good idea, but Facebook might want to watch the world's response to privacy issues as they innovate.

Remember that flap when Google Buzz said, "Hey, everyone wants to share all their information" and opted everyone into Google Buzz? It resulted in a quick change and more than one investigation. Welcome to 2010 Facebook. One of the first items I came across on the web with a search on "Instant Personalization" was this blog, mostly discussion how to remove it. Which I quickly did, by the way.

There are a lot of smart developers at Facebook. Are you really telling me that you couldn't have popped a window up for every user and said, "Hey we've got this great new feature with these partners, but you'll have to send them your information to make it work. Are you up for that?"

Instead, they stuck the information under Account, Privacy Settings, Applications and Websites. I've quoted part of that page below:

"Instant Personalization helps you connect more easily with your friends on select partner sites.

You'll find a personal and social experience the moment you arrive on our select partner sites -- Docs.com, Pandora, and Yelp. We're working closely with these partners so you can quickly connect with your friends and see relevant content on their sites. These sites personalize your experience using your public Facebook information."

The biggest issue here is that Facebook and other social media systems seem to be treating the information you've put into their system as theirs, not yours. It's one thing to put information out there, it's another to have someone put it out there for you and send it to other sites. I know we can't put the genie back in the bottle, but for these social networks to thrive in the long term, they are going to need to put their customers first, socialization second.

Social Networking, the New Magic Beans

It seems every issue of every business magazine I see has an article on Social Networking. News shows are starting to run segments on the phenomenon. What really caught my eye was the fact that facebook was the most visited site on the Internet on Christmas day.

Now it's hit the big time for certain! And companies of all size and types are flooding onto the Internet to try to be a part of the craze. But, I still have these feeling that they've got nothing in their hands quite yet, other than those magic beans. (I'm not certain if they traded the cow for them or not. Let's not take the analogy too literally, shall we?)

Social Networking has a lot of potential, that's for sure. With all those eyeballs converging into one place with a way to know what people like and don't like, it's an advertisers dream. But do you dare advertise there? Plenty will and fail. Because, remember folks are going there to hang out and have fun. Too much advertising will reduce the tendency of visitors to go there. And it's all too easy for each person to exclude you off their feed if you get too "sales-y."

Instead, the idea here is to have companies become part of the community discussion. Offer tips and tricks, offer information about your business that will benefit your customers. Become part of the trust equation and they will look for you when they need to buy next. And they will need to buy - economic slumps only last so long...